


Vengeance

by RedDevil



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-12 23:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13558170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedDevil/pseuds/RedDevil
Summary: Not too happy with how the show is portraying Red and Lizzie right now.  I would think Red (as Lizzie's sin eater) would try to keep her from seeking vengeance, or at least try to talk her out of it, so this is my attempt to correct that.





	Vengeance

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Icarus_fallen for introducing me to the site and giving me an invite.

“Vengeance is an arrow that in falling oft pierces him who shot it,”  Red spoke the words from Haggards play _Cleopatra._ To warn Lizzie away from the path she was on. For he knew exactly what this path of vengeance and destruction lead to. He was an old friend with vengeance. It is difficult to explain, to someone who had not experienced it, how all-consuming the anger was when a loved one is violently ripped away from you. How every single breath afterward is full of guilt, and each new rising of the sun brings fresh waves of regret. The anger never entirely leaves, it always simmers under the surface the tiger, and the devil are loose, unchained, and seeking out the guilty parties.

“Could you not speak in riddles for once.”  Lizzie snapped.

“You need to grieve.”  Red stated, “If you need more time…”

She interrupted him, “I am just keeping up with the family business. I know what you did after I faked my death. The path of death you're brought upon anyone standing in your way of finding out who had caused my death.”

It was different, he was a monster, long having been close friends with vengeance. It was what made him continue to breathe, to wake up, and put one foot in front of the other. For the longest time, it had been all he had. The need to revenge, what he then thought, had been the death of his wife and daughter. The inferno of his anger had burned and scorched his insides, his soul, and all that was left of him was emptiness Except for the small part, that had been protected by his need to ensure Lizzie lived a happy life. That she lived, free of the goblins that sought her out because of who her parents were.

How could he explain all of this to her? “I mourned you.”  Red stated, “At first I had mourned you. It had almost killed him.”

He paused choosing his words carefully for the next part, “After I did not die, I had gone off to the woods to live out the end of my life. Not seeking vengeance, because I knew it was partly my fault. Someone came and asked me for help, someone that I owed a favor to. I came back to repay that favor.”  Looking at her, his eyes pleading, “once I started, I could not stop myself. I let the tiger and the devil lose too soon, and once they were free, I could not chain them again. It is one of the few times I regret allowing my dark side to reign.”  He could not help but think of Mr. Kaplan bringing a sharp pain in his chest. Would it have been better for them all if he had let Mr. Kaplan kill him?

“I cannot grieve until I know the truth until Tom’s killers are brought to justices.”

“Then take your vengeance on me.”  Red said, “You know the reason Tom was killed was that he discovered my secret. I warned him away, but still, it was my secret that got him killed. If you need vengeance to grieve, then take your vengeance and go back to your daughter.”

“You didn’t stab Tom.”

“If you continue.”  Red spoke grabbing Lizzie’s hand grasping firmly so she could not pull away from him, “If you continue down this path, your pain and anger will ruin you. Agnes needs her mother. You do not want to end up like me Lizzie.”

“I’m sorry Red. But I must do this.”

“Let me do it for you.”

“no. Your days as my sin eater are over.”

Dembe walked into the room where Red had been pleading with Lizzie, “Raymond you are needed.”

“Not now Dembe.”

“it is an urgent matter,”  Dembe responded handing Red the cell phone.

Red glared at the phone. He was getting nowhere with Lizzie, despite his pleas. He had to stop her from making the same mistakes he had made, from going down the path that ended in death at best, and at worst emptiness.

Once the voice on the other line spoke, Red knew he had to leave the room, for fear of Lizzie overhearing the call.

Once Red was gone, Dembe began to speak, “Elizabeth he is worried for you.”

“I know he has said as much. He has given me the do as I say not as I do speech already.”

“Did Raymond ever tell you of how we became brothers.”

“Bits of it.”

“He saved me.”  Dembe said, “But that is not why I stayed even after I had healed.”

“He told me you stayed, to prove to him he was a good man. That he had a good soul.”

“He does.”  Dembe said, “Even when I had been so broken, I could see beneath the rage that he hid behind, that he was a good man. After all, he had gone out of his way to save a stranger. At a cost to him.”

Lizzie wanted to ask what the point was, but she knew there was a point because Dembe only spoke when necessary.

“He was filled with rage because of what he had thought had happened to his family.  Living with the guilt and regret of not saving them.”

“But they are alive.”

“He did not know that back then. He allowed his rage and needed for vengeance to devour him, and in it, he thought he tarnished his soul to the point that he thought he was nothing, no one. Just a vessel walking through life with two missions. Revenge and the need to build the biggest criminal empire to ensure that he had the power and ability to protect the one thing left from his past that was untarnished by his mistake. Now he sees that one untarnished person making the same mistakes he had made.  Watching you seek revenge for Tom is eating away at him.  He feels responsible for not only Tom’s death but introducing Tom into your life.  If you continue down this path, you will not only be killing those truly responsible for Tom’s death, but you will take Raymond with you. I fear this time no one will be able to save him, from himself or from you.” 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
